Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Greater New Orleans

Change Region

comments

New Orleans Saints place five players in ranking of NFL's top 101 performers in 2013

Drew Brees sack attack: Photo of the Day

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (9) is sacked by Carolina Panthers defensive ends Greg Hardy (76) and Mario Addison (97) for a 9-yard loss in the second quarter during the game between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday, December 22, 2013. (Michael DeMocker, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)

The annual rankings are PFF's award show. The rankings are based solely on players' performances during the 2013 season and do not indicate any kind of evaluation of overall talent. They also do not rank according to position value, so, as PFF.com states in its most recent rankings, "you won't see 32 quarterbacks heading the list even though that is the most valuable position, instead seeing how guys played relative to what is expected from their position."

Predictably, the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks had the most players on the list with eight. Denver was second with seven. But the next three teams with six apiece might surprise you: Cleveland; Kansas City; and Philadelphia.

New Orleans and San Francisco had five players apiece, although the Saints needed Marques Colston's No. 101 ranking to get there.

Other Saints' rankings:

13. Jimmy Graham

40. Cameron Jordan

49. Keenan Lewis

60. Drew Brees

101. Marques Colston

Brees' relatively low ranking might raise eyebrows, considering he passed for more yards and touchdowns than any quarterback in the league other than Peyton Manning. But PFF noted a glaring lack of consistency in Brees' week-to-week performance,

"A strange year for Brees who at times was playing as good as ever, but couldn't maintain those high levels throughout the year, resulting in several lulls as the Saints earned an NFC wild card. His numbers were as prolific as ever as he crossed the 5,000 yard mark but that did owe something to volume as his yards per attempt would see seven others ahead of him. In a year that wasn't great for quarterbacks Brees certainly was one of the best of the bunch."

Some more takeaways from the rankings:

Jacksonville and Oakland were the only two teams not represented in the rankings.

Three former LSU standouts made the list, led by Bengals tackle Andrew Whitworth at No. 9. Surprisingly, Whitworth was the highest ranked tackle in 2013. Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson was No. 58 and his teammate in the Cardinals secondary, rookie free safety Tyrann Mathieu check in at No. 84.